Anything from Sage will normally be the best performance for dollar. Check out the Np9150 for an amazing 15.6 inch or the Np9170 for a great 17.3 inch! Good luck! I would however stay away from the MSIs. I have had 2 and I sold both due to them easily overheating(1 fan cools CPU and GPU)

I would go with ASUS as they have some of the better reliability ratings.

Keep in mind things like total weight(including power supply), battery capacity, and screen size. If you plan to be carrying around with you(say at school) It may be a better idea to get a middle of the road machine with a mobile graphics card.

You can find good deals. I got my laptop for under 700 two years ago and it still runs brand new games on medium to low settings. I play D3 on high without problems. You just have to be vigilant and look around for deals for a while. Having a laptop that you can plug a mouse into anywhere and rock some TF2 at Starbucks is really nice.